The Chess Club
and Scholastic Center, which was founded by retired investment fund
manager Rex Sinquefield and opened in July 2008, is located at 4657
Maryland Avenue in St. Louis’ fashionable and historic Central West
End neighborhood. The three-level, 6,000-square-foot facility possesses
an array of customized features, including DGT chess boards, hand-made
wooden chess tables, LCD-screen televisions, video installation art,
overhead paging and an adjustable lighting system. The primary colors
of the club are black and white, the colors of a traditional chessboard.

The players’ room is
private and enclosed with its own kitchen and restroom. There is ample
natural lighting with windows along two walls and two skylights in the
space. Recessed adjustable lighting fixtures cover the ceiling to ensure
an even light with appropriate brightness.

“We are proud
to bring the 2009 U.S. Chess Championship to St. Louis,” said Tony
Rich, executive director of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of
Saint Louis. “I am certain that the Chess Club and Scholastic Center
of Saint Louis and the United States Chess Federation will make this
an event unlike any other. The USCF has done an exemplary job of promoting
chess nationally, and now we can bring that same national perspective
to St. Louis.”

The championship
will be held in May 2009. It will be a 9-round event, using the Swiss
system with one round per day and a rest day between rounds 5 and 6.
Time controls will be the classical 40 moves in two hours, with the
remaining moves in one hour.

Invitations
to potential tournament participants will be issued to some of the top-rated
U.S. players, the top-rated women, among other qualifiers and wild card
participants, who will be announced later.

The championship
will have a purse of $100,000, with $30,000 awarded to the winner, twice
the amount of last year’s tournament. In case of even scores, no tie-breakers
will be used. Instead, prize funds will be evenly divided between winners.

The underlying
goal of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis is to create
a world class destination for chess players, both beginning and advanced
and to elevate the game of chess throughout the Saint Louis metropolitan
area. Additionally, the Center financially supports existing local scholastic
chess programs while providing new programs, at no cost, to local schools
currently without programs.

The Chess Club
and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis is a not-for-profit, 501(c)3 organization.
For more information, please visit www.saintlouischessclub.org.

The United
States Chess Federation is the official, not-for-profit U.S. membership
organization for chess players and chess supporters of all ages and
strengths, from beginners to grandmasters. Founded in 1939 with the
merger of the American Chess Federation and the National Chess Federation,
USCF has grown to more than 80,000 members and nearly 1,200 affiliated
chess clubs and organizations.

Under the management
of a professional staff headquartered in Crossville, Tennessee, USCF
sanctions thousands of tournaments with more than 500,000 officially
rated games annually, 25 National Championships award titles to both
amateurs and professionals, ranging from elementary school students
to senior citizens.

USCF promotes
the study and knowledge of the 1,500-year-old game of chess, for its
own sake as an art and enjoyment, but also as a means for the improvement
of society. It encourages the development of a network of institutions
devoted to enhancing the growth of chess, from local clubs to state
and regional associations, and it promotes chess in American schools.